Wherever you find yourself,
God has drawn a circle on the map,
Says the poet Hafiz.
So if you are standing,
Seated,
Or lying down,
That is where you are supposed to be,
And you can drop into lower energy states.
Sitting down if you're standing,
Lying down if you're sitting,
Closing your eyes if you're ready.
Yawning,
Breathing in deeply,
Exhaling slowly,
Maybe exhaling with the ancient biblical breath words,
Sela.
Sela.
Just let yourself be tired.
Let yourself feel the weight of the world just pulling you down into your resting place,
Washing over you,
And letting go.
Just letting go of all the garbage,
And all the crud,
And all the soreness,
And the heat,
And the cold,
The irritability.
Just give up.
Give up.
Just quit.
Quit for the day.
You might feel your shoulders,
Or your whole body getting heavy,
Letting gravity take over.
Maybe your face gets soft,
Expressionless,
Like melting wax.
Soft,
And supple,
And formless.
Then you're going to have distracting thoughts,
Because your brain is working.
When you get them,
You just let them go like they are already dreams,
That you don't need to steer,
Or control,
Or even understand.
Things start to turn into gibberish,
And the nonsensical.
Just let yourself be tethered to my voice,
And then start to drift,
And get lost,
And give up.
Have fun.
Rest is fun.
Rest is good.
Dreams are weird,
And happy,
And scary,
And entertaining.
Like movies that you create every night.
And sleep is good for your body,
And restful for your mind,
And your neurons.
So nice to rest.
Maybe stretch,
Maybe pop.
Scratch an itch,
Just yawn.
Falling in to gravity,
And maybe lightheaded at the same time.
A little space cadet.
Consciousness drifting out to sea.
And as is true nearly every day,
Probably some insults slipped in today.
Bad stuff.
Someone elbowed you.
Someone cut you off.
Someone bought the last of your favorite chocolates at Trader Joe's.
You can hold on to the grudge as long as you want.
I don't think it will help you sleep.
So you can practice tentatively forgiving those in your life,
Whether you know them by name or not,
Who messed you up.
Or you can be angry all night.
Do your thing.
And you may not want to admit it,
But if people do unfortunate things to you,
You probably do unfortunate things to other people.
You're just a person.
You're not an angel.
Maybe being a person is better than being an angel,
Because angels can't learn.
But we can gather ourselves up from our mistakes,
And ask forgiveness.
And ask not to repeat our errors.
That's all you have to do before bed.
Just inscribe yourself that tomorrow will be better.
You get closer to doing the right thing.
Maybe your eyes are getting heavy.
The light's getting dim.
Sleep is starting to wash over you,
And dreams are creeping their way in.
Sleep is a little bit like our own drug that we create.
It's making us goofy.
It may be good sleep with sweet dreams,
Untroubled.
Maybe so.
The whole world is lit up with beauty and space for rest.
Maybe you feel the wholeness,
The unity of the universe,
And of this world,
And yourself in it.
Maybe you take a moment to notice how it's all connected.
The atoms that make up you were part of Julius Caesar,
And will be part of your descendants.
They come from the trees,
And the ground,
And the other planets.
All this shared universe of possibility.
Take a moment to acknowledge that sanctity and that wholeness.
Take time before bed to be grateful,
To be loving with the world and with yourself.
Maybe when you wake up in the morning,
Or whenever you wake up,
You'll remember it then.
Maybe it'll be the first thing you think of when you wake up,
That the world is vast,
And shares a common purpose and a common origin.
Maybe so.
You're sheltered.
You're protected.
You are rescued.
You are covered.
You have refuge.
You are shielded,
Wonderfully and completely.
Great and good forces are watching over you.
Sent to guide and guard you through the night.
Lifting you up and carrying you through sleep.
Delivering you to safety on the other side of the river of dreams.
You might want to breathe in and exhale with the word SELA.
Yawning and stretching and getting so heavy that you can't imagine getting up.
So comfortable.
So easy.
Always blessed and always resting in the palm of a loving universe.
Liberated.
Free.
Followed by the great and good forces that preceded us.
And these great and good forces will continue after us.
Always and forever.
Universe without end.
You get to exist.
What an incredible gift.
You are blessed and you are guarded.
The universe is looking over you,
Keeping you safe.
Take it in.
Feel it.
Feel that security and blessing and love wrapped up.
The universe is looking out for you and giving you grace.
The life of the universe feels compassion and generosity towards you.
Take that in.
Notice it.
The universe turns towards you,
Looking out for you,
And offers you a precious gift of wholeness and peace just for you.
You will sleep,
But the universe will continue,
Even when you are not sleeping.
And it will be waiting for you when you come back.
And while you rest,
There are great and good forces all around you,
Taking on all your troubles while you sleep.
You probably spend the day with a lot of doubts and questions,
Don't we all?
And at night,
You can put all those doubts and questions and fears on your right side with the great and good angelic force responsible for questions.
All of your concerns can be held.
Breathing,
Just settling in,
Letting consciousness come in and out.
And you might feel all of the energy,
Hot day,
Busy day,
Cold day,
Hard day.
You work and you work and you struggle and maybe you go to the gym and you lift weights and all that energy,
All that strength and vigor that you call upon,
You don't need it in your bed.
So you can put it down at your left side with the great and good force who will tend to your strength.
And ahead of you,
A great and good force holds out a light,
Like a nightlight through the darkness,
Like a path through dreams,
Dimly seen,
But always there.
And behind you,
A great and good force of healing,
Massaging,
Healing into your temples and your muscles and your joints,
Your mind,
Recovery.
And all around you,
Just the greatest sensation of wholeness and sanctity and peace,
A loving universe that cares about you always.
Maybe you want to shake and shimmy and get out any last wiggles.
Maybe you're already asleep.
Think any last concrete thoughts and then let them go.
The world is going on and going to go by without you and you're not going to miss anything.
It's going to be all waiting for you when you need it.
Universe was,
It is,
And it will be.
No end,
No beginning.
You floating delicately yet safely within.
Small part in the incredible play.
We get to be,
We get to be awake and we get to sleep.
Now it's time for sleep.
You are safe in the hand of a loving universe with nothing to fear.
